Vanessa Green
Biography Here’s a tip if you want to carry on living - don’t be fooled by this lady’s sweet demeanour and youth. Ever since her parents were killed by loose nuclear missiles unleashed during the December 2033 war, Vanessa has long learnt to shed her lacy frocks for combat gear and is now one of the leading mercenaries in the battle field. Fast and agile with a deadly aim to boot, you can be sure this lady will blow you away... in every sense of the word! Origin Vanessa was only 12 when she lost her parents in the nuclear war of 2033. Her story will cover how she managed to survive in the jungle, taking out enemies after she lost her parents. Her dad was a hunter and he taught her how to make weapons out of simple stuff. Her main instrument of death will be a Jungle Knife. Chapter 1 She loved the outdoors since she could walk. She was named Vanessa, "Like the wind," according to her dad. Her fondest memories of her childhood were all about adventuring out in the wilds with her parents, especially since her dad was an avid outdoor aficionado. Not many people do that anymore these days. Things have changed. Things have really changed. She was never that into the modern ways - all the high-tech gadgets and glitzy get-ups young people tend to like. She was more interested in nature and survival instincts. Maybe it was her dad's influence. Maybe she was born a natural just like that. She usually spent her time indoors reading about the great outdoors. She was but ten years old when her dad first taught her the skills necessary to survive in the wilderness. From making a fire to setting up small traps, her dad taught her all the basics. She even learned how to make simple healing ointments and poisons using the herbs and plants found in the forests. For a ten-year-old, she was quite an overachiever. One particular memory she had was that one time when she took down a small wild boar using a makeshift blow pipe and a poisoned dart. Her dad gave her a jungle knife that day as a reward. Sure, it's not quite a conventional present for a ten-year-old girl, but her dad knew what was appropriate for her. Her dad knew what was best. Chapter 2 She opened her eyes and for a moment, she thought she was back in her room, safe and sound. But those two words were long forgotten after the bomb. Nowhere is safe. She gathered herself and recognized where she was once again - curled up on a large tree branch about thirty feet from the ground. She learned to be grateful how she doesn't toss and turn in her sleep. A few months in the wilderness alone and she's getting quite used to it all. Well, somewhat. The breaking dawn gave her sight to her surroundings. So far, calm. She can see in the short distance some smoke coming out of the forest. The patrol had been going around for a few days now. Probably looking for loners like her to recruit, capture or to do something worse. Usually, they come and go in a day or two. But this time, it's longer. Seems like they're searching for something, or someone. She made her way down to the ground and went scouting. She checked the small traps that she had set around her area. Only a few small animals were caught. A rabbit, a small badger and a few field mice. She readied them all again, added some poison to some and set more as she went towards the patrol camp, following the smoke. It didn't take long for her to find the patrol camp. They just got up and were readying to set off again. She watched from up in the trees. There were five of them, all fully armed with rifles. Then she spotted the leader. She tensed up for a few moments. That face, that crooked smile, it's unmistakable. And she recognized that the rest were from the same patrol as well. What are the odds? Chapter 3 She woke to the sound of her mother screaming. She can hear her parents in the next room. Something's happening. Something bad. Her dad bursted through her door as the sirens started wailing. She saw the look on his face and she knew. "We have to move now honey. Now!" He grabbed her by the arm and they ran out of their house. Outside, the sirens were louder, drowning out her mother's distraught screams. They knew this day would come, but nothing could've prepared them how frantic it would be. Together, they ran towards the underground bunker in their backyard. Then they all stopped dead in their tracks. In front of them, blocking their way to the bunker, was a patrol group, five of them. The leader had a crooked smile that was revolting. He looked at the three of them and then at the bunker door that was a few yards away. "I'm afraid we will be needing this bunker for official purposes," he told them. "Please," pleaded her dad (and it's really hard to see your own parents beg), "I need to get my wife and daughter in there." The leader glanced at her and her mother and back at her dad. "Well," he replied, flashing his smirk again, "We might have room for your wife and daughter." Her mother gasped and her dad came forward to stand in front of his wife and daughter. She could hear the leader and his soldiers laughing. The sirens are getting deafening now. The leader noticed as well. "Come on, there's not much time left," he said as he reached to grab her mother. Her dad threw a hard right which caught the leader in the face. The leader stumbled back as her dad grabbed her mother and her and ran back towards the house. The leader's soldiers co-cked their rifles but she heard the leader telling them to stand down, and that there was no way anyone could survive out here anyway. She turned as they reached the house again to see the soldiers disappearing into the bunker and the door being shut. Her dad brought them to the garage. Her mother was hysterical already by then. She couldn't recall exactly what happened next but just bits and pieces as her dad put her in a small escape pod of sort, gave her a map containing directions for her to find a village camp and to seek out its leader by the name of Darren, and kissed her goodbye. Her last memory of her parents was her dad hugging her mother and telling her "It's going to be alright," as her escape pod launched and took her away from the blast that followed. She crashed inside a deep forest. She stumbled out into the quietness that overwhelmed her. With the map her dad gave clutched in her hand and tears streaming down her face, she fell to her knees. She was lost. Chapter 4 He was lost. He was sure of it It all happened so fast. All his soldiers taken out one by one within an hour. Be it through poisoning or bo-oby-traps, his soldiers fell, and sudd-enly, he was all alone, running blindly through the forest. And he got lost. He ran for how long he couldn't remember. When he finally came to a halt, it was around midday. He can slightly see the sun shining down through the thick leaves. All was quiet. And that was unsettling. He stood still and look around. Nothing. Then he heard a rustle right in front of him. He quickly pulled up his rifle and aimed in the direction the noise was coming from. The sound got closer as he tensed up. With his finger on the trigger, he readied himself as something popped out from the bushes. A rabbit. He sighed a breath of relief and lowered his gun. Then sudd-enly there was a sound from right behind him. He swiftly turned and fired in the direction, spraying bullets. Once he stopped, he saw a pack of wild boars running away and some dead boars. He's going nuts, he told himself. He's losing it... And a sharp sting hit him in the neck. He reached for it and pulled out a small dart with something green dripping at the tip. Almost immediately, he lost feeling in his body and slumped to the ground. He looked up at the trees as he started quickly fading out. He saw a small figure standing over him. In the last moments of his life, he managed to recognize the bitter-yet-satisfied face looking down at him, and saw the large jungle knife she was holding. It can't be her, he thought as he saw the jungle knife coming down on his throat. Chapter 5 Vanessa walked out of the forest, covered in mud and blood. She gripped tightly the jungle knife in one hand while the other clutched the map that her dad gave her. She looked like she has aged so much in the past few months, especially for a twelve-year-old. And in front of her, she saw the village, with startled mercenaries looking at her. They were holding guns but unsure whether to aim at her or not. She asked the first one she met to take her to Darren. She was told that Darren had been killed and a new leader has taken over the village. She asked who the new leader was. Adam, they told her and took her to him. END.